Samuel Davis Sr.
*Samuel Davis Sr., born on this date in 1900, was a Black dancer. Samuel George Davis Sr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Rosa B. Taylor and Robert Davis. He and his former wife, Elvera Sanchez, danced in a vaudeville troupe.
The couple separated when their son Sammy Jr. was three. Davis took custody of his son, who went into show business with his father. He and Will Mastin, the leader of the dance troupe, taught Sammy Jr. how to dance and performed together as the Will Mastin Trio. The three appeared in the 1956 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful. Davis also appeared in two movies, Sweet and Low (1947) with the Will Mastin Trio and The Benny Goodman Story (1956), where he played the bandleader and arranger Fletcher Henderson.
Samuel Davis Sr. died May 21, 1988, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 87, of natural causes, just two years before the death of his son. Sammy Jr. once stated, "When I was nine, I told my father, 'I can outdance you.' 'Oh yeah? What makes you think that?' he asked. Cause you taught me everything I know. 'Yeah, but I didn't teach you everything I know.'
